Easier to Run Redux
by Echo Writer
Summary: A reworked version of EtR because I didn't like the way the last one was going. It still has the same theme and all just better description, explanations, and plot tied in. So I hope you guys enjoy it.


Easier to Run (Redux)

By: Emmanuel Antonio Andrew "Drew" Edwards

A.N.: Okay like I said I would be rewriting all of my stories so here's the first rewritten chapter of EtR. I hope you guys enjoy it as immensely as the original, Oh yea they'll be slight changes to make it harder to understand unlike last time where you guys could practically guess after the first line. Anyway on with the story.

Chapter 1: Clinging to the Light

The sun shone brightly in the summertime village of Konoha as everyday people moved about doing their everyday deeds. Crows cawed, and cats meowed. Young genin squads leapt after another chasing down the infamous Tora the Cat as their jounin teacher watched near by. A warm pleasant feel drifted through the village illuminating it in a sort of holy, untouched light that seemed to cover up its dark deep secret.

Over fifteen years ago, the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi no Yoko, attacked the village hidden in the leaves in outright anger after being seduced and placed inside of a massively powerful genjutsu created by the man named, Madara Uchiha. In its blind rage it struck out at the village destroying countless acres of forestry and killing thousands of brave ninja in its assault.

To quell the beast without risking even more of his ninja's lives, the fourth hokage, by the name of Namikaze Minato, sealed the great demon inside of a baby boy. The boy named Naruto by his godfather and given his mothers surname, Uzumaki, was trusted with this heavy burden ever since birth. He's taken to his role as the village pariah well but for some reason as his fifteenth birthday approached, he could almost smell that something new was coming.

The village grew restless as nightfall fell over it, filling it with apprehension as the yearly Kyuubi Defeat Day, or KD Day, celebrations began. Scores of people rushed out of their homes in masks and decorated clothing as they danced the night away. The masses celebrated unhindered as the night grew older, but alas there is always a problem lurking around every corner as the drinking and heated talks began. And then one by one, the most unhindered of people formed into small mob squads and set out in search for the one jinchuuriki they loved to hate.

We find our young jinchuuriki just returning home from a day of training with a close friend of his that he had met on his training journeys. A demonic ninja named, Emanyeru Ai Kouseitan'i. He had grown close to the elder demon after learning that he too would become a fox demon just like the man once he was done absorbing Kyuubi. It was a fact that thrilled him, yet scared him at the same time. _What will they think of me when they find out I'm a demon. I mean I'm already hated by just about everyone…this will only make things even worse than before._

His thoughts steamrolled for many a moment as he pondered one what he could possibly do to get Lady Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, also known as Grandma Tsunade by Naruto, to accept him as the peaceful new Kyuubi no Yoko. He highly doubted that the village would so much as bat an eyelash before crying out for his ultimate death. But he hoped that his Baa-chan could keep them from killing him immediately.

He walked as though he were on autopilot, and didn't look very well, or very hard for that matter, in the direction he seemed to be going as he continued on his mental map of the village. He noticed however that it was nighttime and saw a small glares of lights that dotted around the village signaling search parties. His face furrowed in thought as he wondered what the village could be looking for before remembering that today happened to be his fifteenth birthday. And he knew that, that meant that there was going to be an enormous search party after him.

He looked around noticing that no one was in this section of the village yet before leaping up onto the room of a nearby building. He used his altitude for his advantage as he checked where the various "death squads" were position before sighing happily that none were near his house yet. He quickly sprinted along the roof aiming for his own apartment building where there was bound to be refuge for a short while, while he gathered a few things for the long night.

His thoughts once again, however, claimed his main stream of conscious and caused him to ponder over his plan as he flew through the night sky. Thankfully it was a new moon tonight or he would have been seen almost immediately. He came back to shortly before reaching his own apartment building and perched himself along the railing of an adjacent building and looked up and down the streets to see if there were any mobs converging on his house just yet.

Seeing none however, gave him the okay he needed before leaping across the open space to his window. He hooked his fingers around the thick rubbery seal of his window before sliding it open and stepping onto his floor. He realized his mistake almost immediately however when he felt the presence of three people in his room. Though he couldn't see them, he knew they were there. His fight or flight instinct kicked into full effect almost immediately as he attempted to jump back out through the window only to slip on the seal sending him tumbling to the ground.

He landed roughly on his back feeling it crack only slightly from the fall. His head pounded dangerously as his limbs screamed in pain. His vision swam as he looked all around noticing that the people who were in the building were piling out into the street and surrounding him. He struggled to get on his feet, telling his body to move before the beating started, but alas his body protested.

The mob converged on him fully, knowing that he was down for good and proceeded to wrap his arms and legs in thick searing ropes meant for herding cattle. Two rather large men picked him up as the others slid a rather long plank under him. The two men then dropped Naruto right on his back making the pain even worse as his hands and legs were tied behind the plank. Feeling utterly hopeless Naruto just laid there and let them carry him away. His sobs ringing out amongst the men and women who held him up as though he could reach some capacity for safety only to feel the cold emptiness of feeling truly alone.

Several blocks passed by slowly as Naruto drifted off into endless unconsciousness, the numbing pain finally taking its toll on him as he relinquished in the fact that he just might die today. It was a sad thought really, the number one hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja taken out by a bunch of civilians who hid in the darkness. _The only stories they'll sing about me are the ones about my utter stupidity_, he thought sourly. Maybe it was the fact that he was dying on his birthday that made it really bad, or maybe it was the fact that he had just found out who his father was and announced it out to the village. Either way it sucked to be him right now that, he was sure of it.

He felt the ropes that tied him to the stake being loosened as he came to. His eyesight was still blurry and he felt like shit, but the good thing to him was that he was still alive. He attempted to get a good look around and figured out by the massive flood of dark green that he was in the forest somewhere. _Either they're going to bury me alive, or they're going to burn me alive. Either way I'm not making out of this forest unscathed,_he assured himself as he felt himself being dropped onto his stomach roughly. He wheezed heavily as the air was knocked out of his body harshly.

Several pikes of wood were driven in the gaps between his arms and his shoulders as well as under his bent knees. He could feel another long length of rope tying him to the pikes giving him a serious unsettling feeling that his death wasn't their main objective here in these dark woods. His suspicions were horribly confirmed as he felt his clothing being ripped from his body, exposing his naked flesh to his attackers as two of the mobsters approached the front of the group and knelt down to his level. He glowered at them dangerously, warning them about the consequences of what they were doing. But to him, it seemed as though they didn't get the message as their faces stayed as blank as they could be.

A collective chuckle rose through the crowd as Naruto struggled with the ropes, his determination wavering with each passing second as a cold dread rose up from within, _The end…_, came a distressed sigh as a sharp pain jabbed itself up his spinal column to his brain and back down to the source. Thick beads of red hot blood streamed down as a massive sharpened branch protruded itself from Naruto's asscheek. He bit his lip and whimpered pitifully as the spike was twisted about before being yanked out suddenly sending another lance of pain up his body. _Kyuubi…, _he thought weakly as the pike found its way into his thigh, another found its way into his back, just a few centimeters from snapping his spine in two.

"Stop dicking around and torture the kid already", came a hoarse voice as a massive shot of pain shot up Naruto's spine causing him to arch his back and gasp in pain. Rough chuckles were heard all around as he went limp in his restraints, his body being held up now by his roughly tied arms. A cold sweat found its way onto his body as he shook violently, reacting to the pain in perverse ways as a hoarse roar escaped his body causing the crowd to step back. The roar however turned to a yelp as another shot of pain shot up his body sending him forward. His head rested against the dirt of the ground as he looked back blankly seeing a large spike stuck in his body somewhere. He didn't really notice or care at the time until it was yanked roughly from his body sending another shot of pain through him. A weak gasp escaping his lips as he hung limply in his restraints. _Its all over for me…_ he thought as his gasps slowly faded into heavy puffs. Tears collected around the edges of his vision as everything slowly faded away. _I'm really going to die…_ he thought sadly as everything finally faded to black.

* * *

Emanyeru sighed for the fifty-second time in three hours as he stood before the current council of Konoha, once again explaining the explosions that have been going off outside the village sending villages and ninja into extreme panic under the fear of attack, "For the three hundredth time I've told you, I'm not conspiring to take over the damn village!" Yet that fact seemed to bounch off their heads as though they were made of rubber and steel.

"Mr. Kouseitan'i…", began one of the clan heads in a cool voice, "We do not take our accusations lightly, and as thus we believe that you are conspiring with someone to pull us into a false alarm thus weakening us-"

"Which doesn't make any sense at all…", mumbled Emanyeru as he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pocket feeling oddly defiant today. The clan leader he had interrupted huffed indignantly as he glared at Emanyeru with extreme hatred.

"It seems to me that you believe yourself to be special Mr. Kouseitan'i which doesn't make any sense to us at all. You claim a last name that has never been heard of, and have no power to back it up. You have no status in any village, nor any bingo book ranking to be heard of, yet you seem to have a superiority complex that confuses us. Please explain it to those of us who seem to be beneath you…" the clan members smirk widened as several of his companions nodded in agreement.

Emanyeru however did not show the enthusiasm that his counterpart shared, "Well to clarify…I've lived longer than you, your ancestors, and your ancestors creators, so…I guess that's why I don't have any bingo book ranking or any mention of me in your history of the world. However my power could destroy this village without so much as a blink of recognition from me-"

"Ah ha!" shouted another clan leader, "So you do admit that you are planning to destroy the village", causing several heads to turn and face Emanyeru in expectation. Which in turn caused him to sigh once more.

"No…" he started slowly, deliberately drawing out the word "no" to antogonize the clan leaders further, "If you had let me finish, I'm pretty sure I could have told you what I meant, but seeing as you like to interrupt me, I don't think I will" he said with a defiant tone, his smirk splitting his face from chin to chin as the tick marks became visible on their faces.

"You…indignant…little…piece of-" started one severely pissed off clan member as the Hokage raised his hand to silence him.

"Calm down Hitura-san, no need to use such language here…" stated the aged man. He turned his gaze upon Emanyeru as his eyes studied the boy, "How old are you Emanyeru…?" he asked finally.

Emanyeru's lip curled upwards as his eye glinted causing the Hokage to arch an eyebrow, "That is an interesting question indeed Hokage-sama…how old am I really…?" he asked as he sighed and slouched some more. His grin pissing off council members as quickly as it satisfied him.

[End of Preview]

A.N. Hopefully I'll be done with the first new chapter by the end of this weekend provided that family issues don't get in the way again. Peace everyone.

A.N. 2: Alright I know I said I would try and finish this last weekend 3 months ago but once again family problems got in between. And this chapter is going to be pretty long, but I can cut it short at 7500 words or write out the full 15000 word chapter. Its up to you guys what I do. I just wanted to let you guys see the entry of the newest character and hold you over until the next chapter is out.


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